


Waking up

by MelindaCoulson4



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Heartbreak, Loss, The Framework
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 05:05:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10210205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelindaCoulson4/pseuds/MelindaCoulson4
Summary: Phil Coulson wakes up from the framework and has one single thought......Melinda May





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is what I do instead of writing my other fics. wtf brain.

_Breathe._

_Wake up!_

His eyes pop open, wide and confused as he desperately sucks in gulps of air. 

Metal walls, groaning and heavy breathing all he can make out around him. His sight is blurry, unfocused. Breathing takes tremendous effort. He can’t get enough air in! A heavy weight is constantly pressing against his chest. His limbs are being forced down. His fingers and toes tingly as he slowly processes everything.

It’s as if he had been drowning and had finally broken the surface of the water. His head had been thrust above the water and his brain is now forcing him to breathe. He couldn’t control his own damn body.

Every thought is clouded. He had been speaking to those…people and then he had ended up here.

Suddenly, he knows. He remembers _everything_. Melinda. Daisy. They were there. The whole team had been right there with him. In the framework, that’s what it was.

 _Melinda_. She had been standing across from him. Sporting a HYDRA uniform, an exact replica of the SHIELD one that she so frequently wears. Aside from the HYDRA logo on the side, of course. But it hadn’t mattered because she was Melinda May. The same person as she’s always been. And he had been a high school history teacher. A frantic young girl with long hair and a familiar face had run into his classroom and forced him out. He knows now that it was Daisy. She had remembered and came to rescue all of them.

He had been so sure that all of that….all of the lies had been true. It felt so real. It felt like a lifetime. But now he knows the truth. He’s with SHIELD. And half of the team had been captured by Radcliffe and Aida. Melinda being the first.

_Melinda._

She had to be here too. _Where?_

Turning his head to the side only results in more blurry vision. All fuzziness and static images. Blobs of color dance in front of him.

He tries calling out for help, but his mouth feels as though it’s filled to the brim with glue. The words stick in his throat.

Someone is touching him now. Talking to him. He doesn’t know who it is nor does he care what they are saying. He just needs to get to Melinda.

Finally, his vision returns relatively normal after several wasted minutes of blinking. That’s when he sees her. Melinda. She’s there, resting against the metal body-shaped contraption right next to his own.

Her eyes are closed.

“May!” he calls out, hoping to rouse her.

There’s no response from her. She doesn’t move at all.

He notices that everyone else in the room, Fitz, Mac, Jemma, Daisy, and Mace, they’re all awake and blinking rapidly. Most are coughing and taking in their surroundings, completely confused just as he had been a couple of minutes ago. But Melinda, she’s still unconscious.

He steps off of the platform at his feet and barely catches himself before collapsing due to wobbly knees. Most likely from disuse. His hands grip tightly on the sides of the machine that Melinda is in.

Once he steadies himself, he reaches his left hand up towards her shoulder intending on shaking her awake. Maybe she needs a little push. She’s been in there the longest after all.

“Wait. Don-’t. Don’t touchhh her,” Jemma says, from her position at Melinda’s other side. Jemma doesn’t appear to be in the greatest shape. She’s bent over at the waist as if she’s fighting the urge to throw up.

Slowly, Jemma makes her way over to his position, at Melinda’s left side. He moves out of her way, as she’s obviously trying to reach the lit up screen with a bunch of symbols and numbers displayed on it. It’s some kind of small computer and Jemma stares at it intently.

“No,” Jemma whispers along with a sharp intake of breath.

He watches as she reaches out and wraps her fingers around Melinda’s left wrist. She keeps her fingers there for a while, more than thirty seconds he knows. Jemma turns her head to the side, shielding herself from his view as she frantically runs her fingers around Melinda’s wrist some more. She’s searching for a pulse, he can tell.

The anticipation is killing him. “What?” he asks, needing to know what’s happening.

Jemma keeps her head pointedly away from him.

He can’t read her face.

He reaches out and grabs her forearm, pulling her attention towards him, letting her know he won’t be ignored. His grip is tight, but he can’t help it. This is Melinda. And Jemma hasn’t said a damn word about her status.

Finally, she glances at him by quickly meeting his eyes. There are tears there. Her head shakes almost as in a twitching motion while her lip begins quivering. “She doesn’t have a pulse,” Jemma whispers.

“What?” He couldn’t even process that. They need to _help_ her! Start CPR or something.

“We can’t….I can’t...do anything. She stopped breathing hours ago,” she whimpers, defeated.

His eyes dart to Melinda, still lying against the metal contraption, unmoving.

His stomach clenches in response. _No_. That wasn’t true. She had just been right there with him. They were together in the framework. He saw her, not even five minutes ago. She was breathing and talking….standing on her own.

“May. May! I’m here. It’s me. It’s Phil,” he stammers. His palm makes contact with her face, cupping it gently. She’s cool to the touch. He moves both hands down in order to grasp her shoulders and begins lightly shaking her. “Melinda!” he calls out, desperate for her to respond.

 

_This couldn’t be happening._

_He had to help her._

 

Keeping his hands on her shoulders, he pulls her towards his own body. Her body moves quickly, limply hitting into his chest. Her whole weight falls against him and he struggles to hold her up, not completely back to his full strength.

His legs shake as he bends down; wrapping her safely in his arms, and slowly lowers a knee to the ground.

He has to help her. He could do this. He could call her back. She was simply stuck in the framework. He could pull her out of it.

He cradles her body in his arms and positions her so that she’s facing him. His left hand slides behind her head, supporting it. “Hey. Melinda. Just….open your eyes. Okay? Just wake up. Please. Please….wake up,” he begs.  

He stares at her face, silently pleading for her to just….do _something._

“I know you can hear me, Melinda. It’s time to come back. Come on,” he cries, voice cracking. “Please,” he whimpers, one last time. His own eyes fall closed, trying to wash away the tears that had been building up. His nose burns with the effort not to break down completely.

He feels no response, nothing from her. He slowly lowers his forehead to hers, feeling the need to touch her. To connect with her. Skin to skin. “Don’t be gone,” he mumbles to her through trembling lips.

_Wake up. Please. Wake up!_

He can barely hold on to her anymore. All of his will to breathe or keep going is flushed out of him in that moment. Melinda is gone…..she’s dead. His fingers press against the skin of her arms. She’s still so cold. She’ll never warm up. She’ll never use the muscles that he knows are there.

His knee gives out and he collapses backwards onto the solid floor, bringing her with him. He presses her against him. He needs to hold her. He cradles her head against his neck, his hands twist in her long dark locks. Still somehow soft and vibrant, full of life.

He’ll never be able to kiss her like she deserves. Or tell her how he feels. Because he wasted the chance on a fucking android. He was so consumed by happiness. Finally….they were finally moving forward, he never once suspected that she wasn’t real. That the real Melinda May was being held against her will.

He was too late. He failed her. He left her all alone for too long. He still doesn’t even know how long she was gone for!

And now she’s gone…. _forever_.

 

_It’s all his fault._

 

//end//

 

**Author's Note:**

> So.....sorry. Thanks for reading. What do you think?


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